December 30, 2006

Resident Clinton's Top 10 movies of 2006 that weren't made anywhere near 2006

I've been a film programmer for six years now, and even went to film school (and stuff) before that, but every year I am wowed more and more not by those new films that everyone talks about, but by old classics that I somehow missed. I tend to come late in the game because I prefer to see the "big" classics in the theatre (home video just doesn't so it for me sometimes), or something obvious just misses my radar. Oh, what I wouldn't give to trade in some of the crap I've seen in the past for more enjoyable educational film experiences. Anyway, here are my favorite "new" films from the past year.

1) Over the Edge (1979) & My Bodyguard (1980)

Young Matt Dillon is truly a thing to behold. His performance in Over the Edge
is electrifying, and the film, about bored suburban kids fighting back
against the system, is one I should have seen when I was thirteen.
Seriously, it could have changed my life. Even more important than
that, if someone had paid attention to the sentiments of this film, a
whole future of school shootings may have been avoided (the setting for
Over the Edge is pretty much in the same Colorado suburbs where the Columbine massacre took place). Over the Edge Trailer

My Bodyguardis
a film I remembered vaguely from repeated screenings on HBO as a kid,
but watching it as an adult was a completely different experience. It
isn't just a "getting back at your bullies" movie, it's a realistic and
rather grim look at how high school can be hell - wrapped inside a
sweet buddy story. It also shows some really nice scenes of dirty
Chicago in the late 70s. Dillon plays the bully in this one, and it's
impressive that he can be so menacing, especially since he looks so
scrawny next to bulky Adam Baldwin (who you may now know from Firefly/Serenity). The presence of Ruth Gordon is an added bonus. My Bodyguard Trailer

2) Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997)

I have been working my way through as much Werner Herzog as I can since
rediscovering him a few years ago. I liked him as a young pup, but
pretty much only knew his bleak narrative films (Aguirre, Fitzcarraldo, and my favorite, Stroszek) and never explored the documentaries. Since Grizzly Man, his doc catalogue has made a comeback (and you can now buy them all - even the obscure ones - on his website). Little Dieter Needs To Fly
is the latest in a long list of catch-up films, and is so far my
favorite. This gripping story of a German immigrant who then becomes an
American prisoner of war doesn't do what you expect - that is, show
recreated scenes of the war. Instead, Herzog and his subject head to
the jungle and completely re-enact his experience. Emotionally
draining, beautifully shot, and like all Herzog, still somehow
hilariously funny and life-affirming, now is a good time to revisit
this film as his upcoming film Rescue Dawn is the narrative version of Dieter's story. And I hear it is among his best as well.

3) Airport 1975

I loved disaster movies as a kid, but wouldn't watch ones about
airplanes or airports because I was already afraid of flying. Then, of
course, there was Airplane,
the Zucker Brothers' comedy which I would watch over and over without
being freaked out because, you know, I was too busy squirting milk out
my nose with laughter. This year I finally saw the film that inspired
it all, and now I will never go back to Airplane. The real thing is Airport 1975,
the sequel to the first successful airplane disaster film. With Karen
Black freaking out, Charlton Heston heroically sky-jumping onto the
damaged 747, and Helen Reddy as a nun singing folk songs, it is way
cheesier than any parody could hope to be. And, yeah, even more fun
then Snakes on a Plane (which I actually really liked). The DVD also includes the original Airport as well - which I liked a bit less because, for shame, it was actually a "better" movie.

4) L'Argent (1983)

Ah, Robert Bresson. His films always kind of bored me, something about them was so detached and emotionally drained that I just couldn't relate. However, I never fell into the love him or hate him camp (his films can be so divisive), rather I was still waiting to see if anything of his would take hold on me. And then I stubbled on his last film, L'Argent. Based on a Tolstoy story that follows the circulation of a forged bill, it is told with a unique style even for French cinema. The stilted dialogue. The 80s preppie mentality. The seeming unemotional acting. It all takes some getting used to, but it leads to an ending that just rocked me to the core. Most amazing is that Bresson was 82 when he made this and it feels completely fresh and young. I am now in the process of reassessing my previous knee-jerk opinion.

5) Hallelujah, I'm a Bum (1933) & The Bowery (1933)

Honestly, neither of these Hollywood versions of down-and-out New York should work at all, but by somehow spreading on a thick layer of cheese, they managed to capture a weird archetype: the happy-go-hard-lucky New Yorker. Hallelujah, I'm A Bum stars the incredibly perky Al Jolson as the lovable and happy Bumper, the homeless "Mayor of Central Park". It addresses homelessness, vagrancy, Marxism, and what happens when you fall in love with the real Mayor's amnesiac girlfriend (a mayor with a girlfriend - how scandalous!). Most notably the dialogue for the entire film is told in rhythm. It's like a modern Shakespeare comedy, and features some great Rodgers & Hart songs like this one, "My Pal Bumper:

Who protects your apple stand / When you've no license in your hand?My pal BumperWhen you break a law or two / Who can make the cops skidoo?My pal BumperWho can keep a business man / From vacations in the can?My pal BumperWho can keep the cops away / When we kiddies want to play?My pal BumperWhen you're hungry for a steak / Who can cure your bellyache?My pal BumperHe can make me feel I'm full / When he feed me full of bull.My pal Bumper

The Bowery, recently seen in the Film Forum's pre-code series, tells the story of two Irish volunteer firemen (Wallace Beery and George Raft) who are jostling for control of the Lower East Side. It plays like a Tammany Hall screwball comedy complete with feisty paper-boys, illegal bare-knuckle boxing, heavily-accented showgirls, explosive cigars, rampant racism and sexism, a comedic appearance from Carrie Nation, and a jump off the Brooklyn Bridge. Pretty much every moment of sleazy Bowery history is packed into this highly enjoyable little time capsule.

6) Shoot the Piano Player (1960) & The Rules of the Game (1939)

I love the French new wave, but here are two great films by two of my favorite filmmakers that I avoided for way too long because I just didn't know any better. I thought that Shoot the Piano Player was lesser Turffaut for some reason. Silly me. This noir crossed with the cinematic style of the new wave has everything you'd want out a crime film, action, gunplay, tragic romance, and with two incredibly charming leads, Charles Aznavour (already a famous singer at the time) and Marie Dubois (so dangerously cute). Left off my list for too long, this film is now it is right up there among my all time favorites.

The Rules of the Game is one of those films I'd always heard about and wanted to see, but was just waiting for the right moment. Well, that came this year with a gorgeous new restoration and reconstruction - since the film was almost destroyed by the Nazis, it took years to put together a full print of the original film. Jean Renoir not only made one of the best character movies, one that explores class, romance, screwball comedy, and the troubled uneasy feeling in pre-war Europe, but his co-starring role is one of my favorite acting performances. Totally worth the wait.

7) Cockfigher (1974)

Monte Hellman retrospectives have been popping up all over the place, but Cockfighter always gets skipped. It could be because of the completely un-pc anti-PETA topic - and yes, actual cockfights are featured in the film. But the movie is so much better than the exploitative title. It's the story of a trouble cockfighting champion (Warren Oates), who has taken a vow of silence until he regains his winning status. Oates is fantastic, delivering more emotion with no dialogue then most could do with pages of dialogue. You also get Harry Dean Stanton as a rival cockfighter, and a screenplay by the author Charles Willeford (whose novel is pretty darn good as well). Oh, and the best thing is that I found this on DVD at the library. Transgressive! Cockfighter trailer.

8) The Mack (1973) & Wattstax (1973)

I went through a blaxploitation phase in my early 20s, but somehow missed some of the best West Coast titles (outside of the Dolemite films, that is). The Mack has of course influenced a great deal of hip-hop culture, and now it has finally found it's way into my heart. Max Julien gives a rather heart-felt performance as Goldie, the pimp on a quest for power and then redemption. Forget about all those fake macks, this film is filled with more pimp realism than any other film about the life could be, mostly because of the use of real pimps and pimp events, like the Player's Ball and Baseball Game/Picnic. The documentary included on the DVD gives all the back story, and, oh yeah, Richard Pryor is a great side-kick. Video clips from The Mack.

Little did I know, but the director of Willy Wonka had a huge career as a documentary director. I finally saw Wattstax at a screening with the director, Mel Stuart, in person, and he talked extensively about his career making somewhat outre non-fiction films. His most famous is this one, chronicling a landmark concert of Stax soul (dubbed the Black Woodstock), which brought the community together seven years after the Watts riots. Of course, the music is fantastic, and it is infectiously awesome to see the huge crowd moving and grooving in the stands. Isaac Hayes is the hottest billed act in the film, but Rufus Thomas pretty much steals the show - even in his silly pink schoolboy outfit. But the on-the-street interviews with Watts residents (including some hilarious moments with Richard Pryor, doing impromptu stand-up) make this so much more than a concert film. Rufus Thomas Wattstax clip.

9) The Long Goodbye (1973) & California Split (1974)

Until recently, I wasn't a huge fan of Robert Altman, mostly because I hadn't seen the right films. M*A*S*H was okay, but I couldn't separate it from the ubiquitous TV show. The Player, Short Cuts and Nashville I felt were overrated. And some other ones I had seen were just plain boring or confusing (O.C. & Stiggs - the f??). But earlier this year the theatre I was programming brought Altman to town for a career retrospective (and to help us honor Meryl Streep, but more on that in a minute). This gave me a chance to catch The Long Goodbye on the big screen. I had seen it several years ago, but it was on a crappy old VHS and just didn't translate well. This time I was immediately in love. Not only is this my favorite adaptation of Raymond Chandler - it veers quite a bit from the novel, but captures the feeling of his writing more than any other adaptation - but the performance by Elliot Gould is nothing short of astounding.

The next year Altman made California Split, which I only saw a few months later in it's re-issue and was again madly in love with film again for a few lovely hours. This is a more personal Altman film, about a pair of scuzzy gamblers (Gould again and George Segal), who team up for the big score. But really there is no plot. Two guys get together and gamble like crazy until one day it ends. But talk about immersion...today's Celebrity Poker tv matches have nothing on this look at like at the poker table. Intro to California Split.

As for finally meeting Altman, I only had a few minutes alone backstage with him before introducing a screening, and all I really managed to do was croak about how much I liked Elliot Gould. He agreed (of course), then offered me a joint. RIP, you magnificent bastard. (Psst - almost all of Altman's films are playing over the next few months at the IFC Center - with the exception of The Long Goodbye. Damn!)

10) Sophie's Choice (1982)

Alright, this one is kind of unexpected for me to pull out, I think. So, first the backstory. My aforementioned theatre pulled a big coup by getting Meryl Streep to come to Boston and accept a lifetime achievement award. The theatre's middle aged executives and donors were all atwitter with anticipation. I was...well, I was less excited. I knew of Meryl Streep of course, but I had never seen her career defining movies because most of them were released in the early 80s when I was still a kid, and they were, you know, serious films. The kind your mom liked. The job fell to me to write the Meryl Streep bio and film blurbs and help select clips for a retrospective tribute. So I found myself hunched down with a ton of videos. I saw some great movies - Silkwood, Ironweed, The Deer Hunter - and some crappy ones - The River Wild, One True Thing, Death Becomes Her - and discovered that no matter what the movie, there was something about Meryl that really was pretty amazing.

The last film I watched the film that launched her as a modern star, Sophie's Choice. We showed that on the big screen not long before she arrived, and even though I had seen a bunch of her films and was pretty satisfied, I was kind of dreading this one. All I knew was that my mom loved it and the holocaust played a big role. I've never had much of a stomach for holocaust films. I've just seen that story too many times. But then the film started, Meryl showed up with this beautiful Polish accent and sensual alive demeanor and I was deeply smitten. Heck, I didn't even recognize her. Add to that Kevin Kline in excellent hamming mode, a wanna-be young writer, and a distraught tale of tragic love and I was hooked. Then the holocaust flashback kicked in - a relatively small part of the film - and it was just...It was devastating. I was crying and getting all girly. Whew. While the film hasn't weathered fantastically (a bit too misty around the edges at times), it still packs quite a wallop.

Bonus Top Ten: Top 10 Movies in My Netflix Queue That I Don't Remember Putting There

Space Truckers

The Mansion of Madness

Mazes and Monsters

Superchick

2019: After the Fall of New York

Date With an Angel

I, Madman

Next of Kin

Rhinestone

The Octagon

Update: Thanks for the comments. Since I love to talk about movies, here are a few more reflections based on what people had to say:

OVER THE EDGEI should have mentioned about the pull from release, which is the main
sad reason that the film didn't connect with audiences. The violence
seems so tame today, at least in terms of teen violence, that it's hard
to imagine people getting so freaked out about it. But that they were.
The movie actually only played a few U.S. dates, then premiered on HBO.
Somehow, I never saw it.

More interesting than the Aurora and Littleton geography (though you
are right that they are far apart, it is accurate to say that they are
both Denver suburbs) is that the housing projects for both were founded
in the 70s and had that same soulless under-construction pre-fab vibe.
While both are considerably more lived-in now (in fact, you can compare and contrast the Aurora settings then and now),
there is still something about them that feels completely wrong. Of
course, this is a national problem - since the story that Over the Edge
was inspired by initially took place in California.

By the way, my favorite film about Columbine is the little-seen indie film Zero Day. Both Bowling for Columbine and Elephant
kind of piss me off for ignoring one key factor - the lonely experience
of growing up in planned suburban towns where there is little sense of
community, and no real outlet for that all consuming teen angst
(especially for those who are outsiders or misfits). Not to say that
the Columbine shooters weren't fucking nutjobs, cause, yeah, they were.

Oh, and Little Darlings I managed to see again just last year on a weird bootleg DVD I got off of ebay. I'll put that up with My Bodyguard
as a great, gritty movie about growing up - this time from the ladies'
angle. And, yeah, Matt Dillon is great again, but my money is on the
unsung talent of Kristy McNichol - the hottest bad girl around!

ALTMAN
So, I have seen a lot of his other films, and I forgot to mention McCabe and Mrs. Miller.
I need to check that out again, because when I saw it years ago I
didn't care much for it, but I think I was too caught up in the 70s
aesthetic being applied to a Western. I think that now-a-days I could
appreciate it much more. I also agree with you about Three Women, and should mention that Brewster McCloud
is actually a great little lost gem that I highly recommend. It's out
of print on video, but you can catch it on screen from time to time
(it's in the IFC retrospective). Secret Honor is great as well, basically a one man show with Philip Baker Hall playing Nixon as his slowly goes insane. And Popeye
is critically underrated - it's actually damn near perfect, especially
when you consider how messy and crowded the Popeye comics were in the
first place. And yeah, I will keep watching Nashville until I "get it". Sometimes, it just takes a while to get into my thick skull.

HERZOGThe Enigma of Kaspar Hauser just played in town last month and I
am still kicking myself for missing it on the big screen, because I
love Bruno S. I have it high on the rental list. I'm also on a mission to see every other Herzog film that I haven't seen. Lessons Of Darkness just came this week, and it is truly beautiful and amazing. I've avoided it in the past because it sounded too environmental or political, but I should have known better than to expect that from Werner. He turns the burning of the Kuwaiti oil plants at the end of the Gulf War into an amazing sci-fi end-of-the-world story.

Comments

Nice list.

Orion pulled the film [Over the Edge - ed] before it was fully released--it's a shame as it was a classic. We pulled back on Colors, too. There were problems at some theaters with rioters for the latter, and on the former, the leadership didn't want was wary that it might cause some teens to act out. Can you imagine a film company being responsible like that today?

I'm happy to see someone else mention that The Long Goodbye is the best celluloid interpretation of Chandler. Gould and Altman are genius together. California Split is a criminally underrated film too.

I dunno if anyone likes audiobooks but if you can find them, Elliot Gould narrates all of Chandler's novels and short stories.

Well, Airport probably did inspire Airplane!, but the movie the latter spoofs is called Zero Hour!, which I just happened to stumble across on TV one day as a kid. Sadly, it's not on DVD, or in print at least, because watching it is almost surreal. Airplane follows the original along quite faithfully--the whole plot is there, but without (intentional) silliness. The lead character's name is even the same. They should really package it with Airplane!, but I'm sure that won't happen. You should try and score it for a double feature at your theater.
I'd suggest, for more Altman, trying McCabe and Mrs Miller, and if you're feeling adventurous, 3 Women (and for god's sake--give Nashville another shot! It's incapable of being overrated!)
I always liked the grime factor of My Bodyguard, too. The school alone is filthy (even his weird mouth-breathing friend is a little gross in a way you don't usually see). I'm gonna have to throw that in my queue. And I was fortunate enough to have caught Over the Edge over and over as a teenager, because it played constantly for some reason on...wait for it...Lifetime. I even did a paper on Over the Edge and Foxes (teens-in-over-their-heads flick w/ Jodie Foster). Foxes is nowhere near as good, but kind of worth checking out for its odd little charms.

See if you can dig up Renoirs' "Boudou Saved from Drowning" as well. Very funny social commentary as well, more screwball comedy than "Rules....". Unfortunately it was remade into "Down and Out in Beverly Hills". You also need to find Herzogs "Enigma of Kasper Hauser" with Bruno S. in the title roll. Fantastic.

I see "Over The Edge" when I was thirteen! I lived/still live in the Denver area, and we (my family) had to go all the way to an "art-house" theater in Boulder (30 miles away) to see it because it was pulled from "regular" distribution. My mom was a Juvenile Diversion counselor for Adams County (north Denver metro) at the time!

She felt that it was an outstanding film, but she agreed with the prevailing sentiment that it was "too provocative" for general distribution...

A minor point: "Over The Edge" was filmed in Aurora (some parts were filmed in a neighborhood where my grandmother lived at the time), and this is in the eastern part of the metro area approx. 25 miles away from Columbine H.S. in western Littleton.

That said, I couldn't agree more that if people had paid attention to what this movie said in 1979, that it may have prevented what really happened (only 25 miles away) in 1999.

Yeah, I hated Popeye as a kid, in a way that I hated very few movies, but can appreciate it now. Maybe it's just not much of a kids' movie. Also great is Tanner 88, if you haven't seen it. Quite rewarding. I was half-kidding about Nashville; I don't really think anyone should be bludgened with received wisdom. I don't know how you went into it, but maybe your expectations filtered your experience--that's always been interesting to me, and a whole other topic. I think Nashville's the greatest American movie ever made, but I wouldn't be doing anyone who hasn't seen it any favors by telling them that. Although it's playing here in Portland OR soon, and that's what I've been telling people anyway.

After Altman died I was at a movie theater which happened to sell postcards of its marquee. A woman in line pointed out that Gosford Park was on the marquee in the photo, but that meant nothing to the guy working the concession. She knowingly drawled that "Bob Altman" had directed it, and had just died. I wanted to throttle her. Even his closest friends took no such presumption in their reminiscenes. Bob Altman. Idiot.

great review - only thing missing is Merryl's greatest role as the italian emigre war bride of a mid-western potato farmer who bonks off the visiting clint eastwood who's taking "holiday photos" of bridges for national geographic, only to give up the man and his multi-lingual ways, sacrificing it all in the final, rain drenched scene for the sake of her ever so ordinary white bread family in The Bridges of Madison County

Feh. Altman's idea of Chandler is to make Marlowe a loser whining in a puddle of piss. Mitchum did it so much better. And what's with the gangster disfiguring his girlfriend to impress somebody he doesn't give a shit about? Does he do that for everybody? The movie doesn't stand up to a moment's thought.

Now, Popeye. That was almost a great movie, sabotaged only by the ending and (ironically) some of the songs. The cast was superb, script was great, the sets were perfection.